What You Care About Most
by xPeterPanNeverFailsx
Summary: When it comes time for Pan to cast the spell again, the spell that brought all of the people in the Enchanted Forest to Storybrook, he must decide if it is worth it to sacrifice the heart of the thing he cares about most, the only girl he has ever loved.


**My first attempt at a OUAT story. Told from Pan's POV. Pan x OC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own once upon a time **

**xxxxx**

I stared at the scroll in front of him. I, with the help of the last true lost boy, had collected all of the ingredients I needed for the spell and had cast them into the well. And yet, it seemed that all of my preparation may have been for nothing. Stealing Henry's body, escaping Neverland right under the noses of his adversaries, all gone to waste. As I stood there next to my most faithful servant, Felix, I stared at the final ingredient that I would need to complete the spell and create my new home.

_The heart of the thing you love most._

"I knew you'd win." Said Felix, talking about the fact that they had outwitted Emma and the others. "Peter Pan never fails." I smiled up at him, being shorter than him now in Henry's body. I paused in tossing the ingredients into the well which caught Felix's attention.

"What? You missing something?" he asked. He looked almost afraid thinking that he had forgotten something.

"Yes." I replied.

"What is it?"

"The heart of the thing I love most." I said, trying to sound as apathetic as possible. Based on the look on Felix's face, I succeeded.

"You mean you son's heart, Rumplestiltskin?" Felix continued to question.

_If only it were that easy._

"No. Not him. I never loved Rumple." I answered honestly. The confusion on Felix's face grew.

"Then who? Whose heart do we need? Who do you love?" he continued.

_Only one. There has only ever been one person who has had the audacity to claim my heart as theirs. And there will never be another._

I had always let Felix believe that he had been the first lost boy. And, technically, by title alone, he had. But there had been another who had been brought to Neverland years before any of his lost boys had joined him.

Her name was Piper.

_***Flashback***_

_I sat alone in the clearing I had created for myself. After all I was the sole inhabitant of Neverland, unless you count my shadow. I had reign over the entire island. That was more than any boy could ask for. Sometimes though, it was nice to have a place to return to when I tired of flying about, which honestly was rare. _

_I could have anything my heart desired on this small world. All I had to do was believe. And I did believe. I was never bored. I had my tricks and games. I loved to toy with the fairy that liked to visit this world. Tinkerbell, I remembered her name was. Oh, and there were those two Englishmen, but they had come and gone so fast he hardly thought about it._

_But sometimes, only every so often, after the green fairy left and I found himself alone again, would I find myself doodling in the soil next to a campfire, wondering what it would be like to have company. I wondered aloud as my shadow flew past._

"_Do you think we could bring others here? Would that be possible? It would be nice to have some people to play around with. What good is immortality if you have no one to spend it with?" I paused and looked at the shadow. It didn't respond. In fact, it hadn't spoken since my first night here in Neverland._

"_No, you're right. It's impossible." I muttered to myself and the shadow flew off. I laid back and rested my head in my hands, staring at the stars above me. It wasn't long before I fell asleep._

_I was unpleasantly awoken the next morning by a loud scream followed by a crash in the middle of my campsite. Standing up quickly, I grabbed the knife I had fashioned from animal bone and faced whatever it was that had made the sound. The sight that greeted me both amazed and confused me._

_There, sitting in a heap, rubbing their back from the fall, was a young girl. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, young enough to still be classified as a girl at least. Her curly brown locks were windblown from her journey but still fell neatly down her back. I stood there gawking like an idiot and when she fixed her eyes on me with a fierce glare, I saw she had piercing grey eyes._

"_What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked, still glaring. I snapped myself out of it and cracked a small smile shaking my head._

"_Then what?" she asked. "You're looking at me as if you've never seen a girl before." _

"_I don't get many visitors here." Was the only response I could manage as I walked forward and offered her a hand. As she took it my brain finally managed to catch up. Her touch, it was real. She was real._

"_Where is here exactly?" she asked, oddly calm about being dropped in the middle of a strange land with a boy she's never met._

_I step back a bit and spread my arms wide. "Welcome to Neverland." I say, gesturing to the expanse of forest around us and the world beyond. "I'm Peter." I continue, holding out my hand. She grasps it and shakes lightly. She looks at me in bewilderment._

"_Neverland?" she asks. "And you're Peter. Peter Pan?" Now it's my turn to be confused._

"_Yes. How do you know my name?" My curiosity had been piqued. This is one of the only human beings I have spoken to in the past century. And as far as I thought, I was one of the only ones who had ever been to visit this place._

"_The story of Neverland was always my favorite bedtime story as a child. The tale of Peter Pan and his shadow, of the boy who never wanted to grow up. Is this some sort of sick joke? It's not funny." She said, her voice becoming accusing at the end._

"_No! No joke. I promise." I said quickly. The girl looked at me skeptically. "Watch." I closed my eyes and focused on flying. Perhaps that would convince her that this was real. I lifted into the air slowly and flew around in a circle above the campsite before floating back down to stand in front of her. She looked at me, her grey eyes wide._

"_Well, I suppose that's good enough proof." She paused. "I'm Piper." I couldn't help it. I grinned. _

"_Welcome to Neverland, Piper." I said again with a small bow. "Would you like to stay?" _

"_My family is dead." She said suddenly, looking off into the forest. I was trying to decide if that was an answer when she continued. "I have been in an orphanage for the past three years. I turn eighteen next year and they say that when that happens, I will not be allowed to live there any longer. I have nothing." She paused looking thoughtful before turning to me with a smile that lit up her entire face._

"_Yes. I would like to stay."_

_***End Flashback***_

And that was that. Piper stayed with me in Neverland. I told her everything about her new world. What to eat, what was poisonous, and the best part: that we never aged. But the lost boys never knew her. She had been fine when it was just the two of us, but my shadow must have been dissatisfied. We played together for nearly ten years alone on the island when my shadow brought Felix.

Piper was out picking berries when my shadow dropped him in front of me. He was angry at first, not having any idea of where he was, but he warmed up quickly. And when Piper came back, she hid until I grew worried and went to look for her. When I finally did, she refused to come back with me. She was afraid.

Over the years I had grown quite fond of the young girl. She had, after all, been my first true friend on my new world. One could even say that I was falling in love with her, though I had no idea of it at the time. So, I led her away, deeper into the forest, where I found a nice tree and made the best tree house I could imagine for her. And she lived there as my shadow brought back more and more boys to join my crew.

I made sure to visit as often as I could, sneaking away into the forest when the lost boys were asleep. Sneaking away to see Piper. As far as I could tell, she loved the secrecy of our friendship, the midnight visits. Our secret. And over the years, I came to realize the true extent of what I felt towards her. But would she love me if I showed her all of me? I hid that darker side to spare her, to keep her happy, and it was working. Could she love me back? I did not know.

I _did_ know what it would take to save myself and live forever, to stay with her. But even as my hourglass ran out I could not bring myself to tell her what I was plotting. Now, it seemed, that choice was coming back to haunt me. I knew one thing for certain as I stared down the well before me: I could not kill her.

_Perhaps there was another way._

A plan started to form in my head. The only question left was if it would work.

"Love can mean many things Felix. It doesn't just come from romance or family. It can also come from loyalty, friendship." I paused. "Only one person has always believed in Pan."

_Maybe…_

"It's me." The realization dawned on him then that I was about to kill him. I could see every regret he ever had, including the choice to follow me, flood his eyes.

"Don't be afraid, be flattered." I finished.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he yelled as I thrust my hand forward and ripped his beating heart from his chest. He watched in horror as I held it out over the well and began to squeeze. But I knew, deep down, as the heart in my hand turned to dust and fell into the well that it was futile. Just as the heart of Regina's prized stallion would not work for her, Felix's heart would not work for me.

"Dammit!" I yelled loudly. I rarely swore, but I felt as if this was an appropriate time for an exception.

"Peter?" called a soft voice to my left. I jerked my head up toward the source of the sound and looked in despair at what I saw.

"Piper." Was all I could manage. When Emma offered passage to Storybrook on the Jolly Rodger, Piper had crept out of the woods and snuck on board, keeping out of sight of the group and the lost boys. Once we arrived, she waited until the docs were clear before leaving the ship. But I knew she had come along. I always knew where the inhabitants of Neverland are. No one leaves the island without my knowledge. But why was she here now? More importantly, how did she know it was me inside Henry's body?

"I heard you talking with Felix on the ship. Is it all true? Have you been keeping things from me?" she whispered softly.

"You should go." I said. "You have every right to hate me." She looked surprised at the last statement.

"I could never hate you Peter." She said, stronger now. I said nothing. "I heard you talking with Felix just now too." She continued when I did not speak. "Whose heart _do _you need? His did not seem to work."

"It didn't." I growled at the ground. I turned my head up to look at her sadly.

She looked at me with wide eyes. Not wide with fear, but care and the desire to help me. When my eyes met hers, the realization dawned on her. "Mine." I could only nod.

"The only person I have ever loved." I mumbled, too low for her to hear. At least, that's what I thought.

She looked at me forlornly for a moment before I saw her eyes harden in determination. "Then take it." She said with conviction. Her response startled me.

"What? No! It will kill you." her eyes softened a bit.

"It's okay Peter. I've already lived far longer than I was meant to. And it has been a wonderful life. But you need to create your paradise. I can see it in your eyes. So, do it." She said.

"It's no paradise without you." I said desperately.

"But you will move on. I was important in your life for a moment, but that moment is over." She walked towards me as she spoke so that by the time she had finished, she was standing right in front of me. "Take it."

She took my hand and placed it over her heart. As she did so, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. "It's alright." She whispered. So I did the only thing I could. I plunged my hand into her chest and I took her heart.

Piper gasped and fell to her knees in front of me. And as I held my hand out over the well and crushed the still beating heart in my hand, a tear slid down my cheek and I heard Piper whisper her final words.

"I love you."

**xxxxx**

**I tried to write a fic that didn't alter much of the actual plotline and this is what came out. I'll probably try to write more Pan x OC fics that have happier endings. **

**Hope you liked it!**


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